Publications by authors named "Colleen A Lawton"
Purpose: Ensuring high quality, evidence-based radiation therapy for patients is of the upmost importance. As a part of the largest integrated health system in America, the Department of Veterans Affairs National Radiation Oncology Program (VA-NROP) established a quality surveillance initiative to address the challenge and necessity of providing the highest quality of care for veterans treated for cancer.
Methods And Materials: As part of this initiative, the VA-NROP contracted with the American Society for Radiation Oncology to commission 5 Blue Ribbon Panels for lung, prostate, rectal, breast, and head and neck cancers experts.
Purpose: This phase I/II, multi-institutional trial explored the tolerance and efficacy of stepwise increasing hypofractionation (HPFX) radiation therapy regimens for fraction sizes up to 4.3 Gy in localized prostate cancer.
Methods And Materials: Three escalating dose-per-fraction schedules were designed to yield similar predicted tumor control while maintaining equivalent predicted late toxicity.
Background: Prostate cancer clinical stage T2 (cT2) subclassifications, as determined by digital rectal examination (DRE), are a historic method of staging prostate cancer. However, given the potential discomfort associated with prostate examination and the wide availability of other prognostic tests, the necessity of DRE is uncertain. This study sought to determine the prognostic value of the prostate cancer cT2 subclassifications in a contemporary cohort of patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: A meta-analysis of sociodemographic variables and their association with late (>180 days from start of radiation therapy[RT]) bowel, bladder, and clustered bowel and bladder toxicities was conducted in patients with high-risk (clinical stages T2c-T4b or Gleason score 8-10 or prostate-specific antigen level >20) prostate cancer.
Methods And Materials: Three NRG trials (RTOG 9202, RTOG 9413, and RTOG 9406) that accrued from 1992 to 2000 were used. Late toxicities were measured with the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Late Radiation Morbidity Scale.
Background: Salvage radiation therapy is often necessary in men who have undergone radical prostatectomy and have evidence of prostate-cancer recurrence signaled by a persistently or recurrently elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level. Whether antiandrogen therapy with radiation therapy will further improve cancer control and prolong overall survival is unknown.
Methods: In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted from 1998 through 2003, we assigned 760 eligible patients who had undergone prostatectomy with a lymphadenectomy and had disease, as assessed on pathological testing, with a tumor stage of T2 (confined to the prostate but with a positive surgical margin) or T3 (with histologic extension beyond the prostatic capsule), no nodal involvement, and a detectable PSA level of 0.
Prostate cancer represents one of the most prevalent malignancies in the world. Although subsets of prostate cancer are aggressive and can metastasize, it is also evident that most patients harbor indolent disease. Although current risk-stratification approaches use both clinical and pathologic factors, it is clear that biomarkers can be used to improve on these approaches.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This multi-institutional phase I/II trial explored patient-assessed tolerance of increasingly hypofractionated (HPFX) radiation for low/intermediate risk prostate cancer.
Methods: 347 patients enrolled from 2002 to 2010. Three increasing dose-per-fraction schedules of 64.
Background: Biochemical failure (BF) after radiation therapy is defined on the basis of a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level (A1 failure) or any event that prompts the initiation of salvage androgen-deprivation therapy without PSA failure (A2). It was hypothesized that A2 failure may have a different prognosis.
Methods: Data for 2799 eligible patients from Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 9202 and RTOG 9413 were analyzed.
The National Radiation Oncology Registry (NROR), sponsored by the Radiation Oncology Institute and the American Society for Radiation Oncology, is designed to collect standardized information on cancer care delivery among patients treated with radiotherapy in the United States and will focus on patients with prostate cancer. Stakeholders were engaged through a forum that emphasized the need for patient-centered outcomes, minimal data burden, and maximal connectivity to existing registries and databases. An electronic infrastructure is under development to provide connectivity across radiation oncology and hospital information systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To promote the rational use of scarce research funding, scholars have developed methods for the systematic identification and prioritization of health research needs. The Radiation Oncology Institute commissioned an independent, comprehensive assessment of research needs for the advancement of radiation oncology care.
Methods And Materials: The research needs assessment used a mixed-method, qualitative and quantitative social scientific approach, including structured interviews with diverse stakeholders, focus groups, surveys of American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) members, and a prioritization exercise using a modified Delphi technique.
Impact of computed tomography image quality on image-guided radiation therapy based on soft tissue registration.
Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys
April 2012
Purpose: In image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), different computed tomography (CT) modalities with varying image quality are being used to correct for interfractional variations in patient set-up and anatomy changes, thereby reducing clinical target volume to the planning target volume (CTV-to-PTV) margins. We explore how CT image quality affects patient repositioning and CTV-to-PTV margins in soft tissue registration-based IGRT for prostate cancer patients.
Methods And Materials: Four CT-based IGRT modalities used for prostate RT were considered in this study: MV fan beam CT (MVFBCT) (Tomotherapy), MV cone beam CT (MVCBCT) (MVision; Siemens), kV fan beam CT (kVFBCT) (CTVision, Siemens), and kV cone beam CT (kVCBCT) (Synergy; Elekta).
Purpose: External-beam radiation therapy combined with low-doserate permanent brachytherapy are commonly used to treat men with localized prostate cancer. This Phase II trial was performed to document late gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicity as well as biochemical control for this treatment in a multi-institutional cooperative group setting. This report defines the long-term results of this trial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The National Radiation Oncology Registry (NROR) is a collaborative initiative of the Radiation Oncology Institute and the American Society of Radiation Oncology, with input and guidance from other major stakeholders in oncology. The overarching mission of the NROR is to improve the care of cancer patients by capturing reliable information on treatment delivery and health outcomes.
Methods: The NROR will collect patient-specific radiotherapy data electronically to allow for rapid comparison of the many competing treatment modalities and account for effectiveness, outcome, utilization, quality, safety, and cost.
Mitigation of late renal and pulmonary injury after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys
May 2012
Purpose: To update the results of a clinical trial that assessed whether the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor captopril was effective in mitigating chronic renal failure and pulmonary-related mortality in subjects undergoing total body irradiation (TBI) in preparation for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
Methods And Materials: Updated records of the 55 subjects who were enrolled in this randomized controlled trial were analyzed. Twenty-eight patients received captopril, and 27 patients received placebo.
Purpose: To test the feasibility of a new approach to synthesize published normal tissue complication data using late rectal toxicity in prostate cancer as an example.
Methods And Materials: A data survey was performed to identify the published reports on the dose-response relationships for late rectal toxicity. The risk estimates for Grade 1 or greater, Grade 2 or greater, and Grade 3 or greater toxicity were obtained for a test cohort of patients treated at our institution.
Purpose: To evaluate the long-term effectiveness of transrectal ultrasound-guided permanent radioactive I125 implantation of the prostate for organ confined adenocarcinoma of the prostate compared with historical data of prostatectomy and external beam radiotherapy within a cooperative group setting.
Methods And Materials: Patients accrued to this study had histologically confirmed, locally confined adenocarcinoma of the prostate clinical stage T1b, T1c, or T2a; no nodal or metastatic disease; prostate-specific antigen level of ≤10 ng/ml; and a Gleason score of ≤6. All patients underwent transrectal ultrasound-guided radioactive I125 seed implantation into the prostate.
Dual translocated (or "dual hit") lymphomas are highly aggressive B cell neoplasms associated with an extremely poor prognosis. The optimal treatment for these lymphomas remains undefined. We present two cases of follicular lymphoma with transformation to Burkitt-like lymphoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To survey the radiation oncology residency program directors on the topics of departmental and institutional support systems, residency program structure, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requirements, and challenges as program director.
Methods: A survey was developed and distributed by the leadership of the Association of Directors of Radiation Oncology Programs to all radiation oncology program directors. Summary statistics, medians, and ranges were collated from responses.
Purpose: We conducted a comparative study of clinical target volume (CTV) definition of pelvic lymph nodes by multiple genitourinary (GU) radiation oncologists looking at the levels of discrepancies amongst this group.
Methods And Materials: Pelvic computed tomography (CT) scans from 2 men were distributed to 14 Radiation Therapy Oncology Group GU radiation oncologists with instructions to define CTVs for the iliac and presacral lymph nodes. The CT data with contours were then returned for analysis.
Purpose: Radiation therapy to the pelvic lymph nodes in high-risk prostate cancer is required on several Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) clinical trials. Based on a prior lymph node contouring project, we have shown significant disagreement in the definition of pelvic lymph node volumes among genitourinary radiation oncology specialists involved in developing and executing current RTOG trials.
Materials And Methods: A consensus meeting was held on October 3, 2007, to reach agreement on pelvic lymph node volumes.